ERIE— Compete and complete.

That's the rallying cry for Erie McDowell's varsity football team this year as the Trojans come into Art Bernardi Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff against Butler Friday.

McDowell (3-1) finished 5-6 a year ago, 2-3 in its first year of competition against WPIALNorthern Five teams.

"We were in every one of those games," third-year coach Joe Tarasovitch said. "We lost 7-0 to North Allegheny and fumbled on their 1-yard line. We lost 14-10 to North Hills and were trailing Shaler 15-10 late when they intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown.

"We competed well, but we have to complete games like that. That's our focus this year."

The Trojans won their first three games this season — defeating Youngstown East 42-6, General McLane 35-14 and Erie Strong Vincent 22-0 — before losing to rival Erie Cathedral Prep 27-17 last week.

McDowell muffed a punt to set up Cathedral Prep's second touchdown.

"We made some mistakes in that game and they cost us,"Tarasovitch said.

McDowell has been forcing a lot more mistakes than it's been making this season. Through four games, the Trojans have recovered six fumbles and intercepted seven passes.

Senior defensive back Bryant Kimball intercepted four passes in McDowell's first two games, but suffered a lacerated spleen against Strong Vincent and is out for the season.

Leading the Trojans defensively are linebacker Nick Galich with 20 tackles, 14 unassisted; linebacker Kasey Gallagher with 26 tackles, 12 unassisted; and safety Matt Orzechowski with 22 tackles, 19 unassisted.

McDowell's offense is centered around junior running back A.J. Fenton, who rushed for 1,053 yards and 15 touchdowns last year. He has 71 carries for 455 yards and eight TDs so far this season.

"A.J. has always been a powerful back (6-foot-2, 212 pounds), but he's added the dimension of speed this year,"Tarasovitch said. "He runs about a 4.65 40 and is an outstanding back. If he stays healthy, he could challenge the school's single-season record of 1,500 yards."

Flanker Alex Schmude has rushed for 1,055 yards while Kyle Harpster has 86 yards on the ground. Senior quarterback Dave Herbe has attempted only 27 passes, completing 17 for 200 yards and four touchdowns.

"We like to run the football,"Tarasovitch admitted. "Our starters only played one quarter against East and we threw only four passes against McLane. We threw maybe 12 passes each of the past two weeks."

Split end Robert Ward leads Tojan receivers with five catches for 68 yards.

While Butler is 0-4, Tarasovitch refuses to look past the Golden Tornado.

"That's a team with a new coaching staff, implementing a new scheme, and they're working hard at it,"he said. "You can see the improvement.

"No. 7 (Cameron McDonald-Cahill) is a speed back, they have a couple of strong fullbacks and a mobile quarterback. Won-loss records don't mean a thing to us when we travel down to the WPIALto play football."

McDowell defeated Butler last season 20-7.